A review of tonight's "Game of Thrones" coming up just as soon as I'm able to kill people with my mind...

"Anyone can be killed." -Arya

"The Ghost of Harrenhal" brings us to the halfway point of season 2, and about the only thing that's certain at this stage of the season is that everyone — us included — has to get used to the idea that plans can (and often need to) be changed at a moment's notice, and that what we believed to be true may be anything but.

The hour's biggest shake-up comes early, as the shadow thing that Melisandre gave birth to stabs Renly to death, taking one potential king off the board and vastly upgrading Stannis' own forces in the process. Though Renly had the charm and guile to amass his 100,000-strong army, he was also too cocky, and more interested in the trappings of power than in the necessary steps to gain and keep power. As his new widow puts it — in a clear-eyed exchange that suggests possibilities to Littlefinger — "Calling yourself king doesn't make you one," nor is there much value to being a queen as opposed to the queen.

And the victory proves to one of mixed value as far as Davos is concerned. Melisandre may or may not be using her magic to cloud Stannis' mind, but anyone who saw her give birth to New Smokey — and who has lived in a world where magic's been absent for a thousand years — would understand the danger of allowing such a mystically powerful woman anywhere near a position of political and military power. Stannis reluctantly changes his plans at Davos' urging — more out of pride, it seems, than a belief in Davos' doomsaying — but I don't know if the red-headed witch is going to go along easily with the switch.

North of the Wall, the Rangers' campaign to find Benjin's group shifts from a large-scale military campaign to a stealthy commando mission, and in the process, Jon Snow is able to get out of steward's duty and back to his fighting destiny. And way off to the southeast, Jorah convinces Dany to decline Xaro's marriage offer — for both his stated reason (there will be more value in building an army within Westeros' borders than hiring one from without) and because of his own feelings for the mother of dragons — and let him find them a ship back to their home country.

Some of the revised plans are barely a sketch at this point. Desperate to prove himself to his father and the rest of the skeptical Iron Islanders, Theon decides to ignore his intended target and go after one closer to Winterfell, presumably to leave Bran, Hodor(!) and company vulnerable to sneak attack. Tyrion, meanwhile, seizes control of the alchemical Wildfire that Cersei had ordered into production, but it's not clear what he intends to do with it, since he agrees with Bronn that attempting to launch it from catapults would do as much damage to King's Landing as Stannis' fleet. And Tywin Lannister at least recognizes that Robb is better at warfare than expected, even if he doesn't quite have a new strategy to make the King in the North beat himself.

And still others mainly involve a switch in loyalty. Arya is just trying to stay alive now that she's in Tywin's employ, but she gains an unexpected ally in the charming criminal she freed a few episodes back, who grants her the power of death over three of her many enemies. I would say choosing The Tickler for one of them was a poor choice, but I can see the value in starting out with a target close at hand so she can be sure her new pal can do what he promises. (Had she named, say, Joffrey first, who knows how long it would have taken, or how she would have gotten proof?)

Renly's death, meanwhile, leaves Brienne of Tarth cursing herself for failing to protect him, but she finds a more temperamentally-matched new master in Catelyn Stark. Brienne swore her undying loyalty to a shallow man, where you can see in the oath scene in the woods that Brienne and Cat share a very serious attitude towards the lives they have chosen.

The women of Westeros don't dominate every story this week, but they have enough strong moments — Brienne killing three of Renly's soldiers in a combination of self-defense and grief, Mags impressing Littlefinger, Arya impressing Tywin, every man in Qarth trying to win Dany's favor (and Jorah holding her out as the one claimant on the Iron Throne who deserves it by both blood and behavior), and that fantastic oath scene with Gwendoline Christie and Michelle Fairley — that I'm reminded once again of how absurd and myopic that infamous New York Times review of the show was. Why would women want to watch fantasy? Maybe because it provides more strong female characters, played by a host of impressive actors, than most dramas set in something more closely resembling our world?

Some other thoughts:

* Who knew baby dragons could be that adorable?

* In our discussion a few weeks ago about which characters had appeared in every episode, several of you pointed out that Joffrey had that distinction. Well, that ended tonight, which leaves Cersei as the last one standing, right? UPDATE: As others have pointed out, Cersei was recently absent, so there's no one who's been in every episode.

* Where Jon is eager to get back into a fighting position, Sam seems perfectly content as a steward, and continues to establish his rep among the men as someone better-educated (or, at least, better-read) than them. Though the show can occasionally bog down in discussing the history of Westeros, I quite enjoyed Sam and then Jon musing about what the First Men thought when they stood on this spot waaaaay back in the day.

* I have to either credit or blame Grantland's Andy Greenwald for making me unable to look at Xaro anymore without imagining that his name is "Zarozan Ducksauce."

* More Qarth-ian credit/blame goes to Fienberg, who watched the scene where the warlock tries to impress Dany and immediately told me "It's Jim Rash as the warlock of Qarth!" Wonder if this guy's also into furries.

Finally, my attempt to keep these comments free of book spoilers has been mostly successful, but some people just don't seem to get it, or care. Once again, let me remind you of the spoiler policy as it relates to this show: we are here to TALK ABOUT THE TV SHOW AS A TV SHOW, AND NOT AN ENDLESS SERIES OF COMPARISONS TO THE BOOKS. If you want to talk about things from the books that haven't yet appeared on the show — whether they are plot points, characters we haven't met yet, still-to-be-explained motivation, etc. — please do so in the message board topic I set up for this episode. I don't care how clever or oblique you think you're being: NO BOOK DISCUSSION IN THE COMMENTS. PERIOD. Anything even vaguely over the line gets deleted, and if anyone notices a comment before I do, feel free to email me.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

"In our discussion a few weeks ago about which characters had appeared in every episode, several of you pointed out that Joffrey had that distinction. Well, that ended tonight, which leaves Cersei as the last one standing, right? "

I was wracking my brain to figure out who Theon's new friend was played by for like, half the next scene, and then it hit me - Finchy! Hopefully he'll be slightly less of an odiois prick than he was on The Office.

As some are saying, Joffrey missed episodes 2 and 3 this season, and Cersei missed episode 4. Nobody's been in every episode now. Tyrion, Arya, and Cersei are the most regular, appearing in 14 out of 15.

Dany is the least likeable allegedly likeable character on this show. This week's episode literally had people giving her informed attributes, much in the same way in the last twenty or so Steven Seagal movies whenever the puffy-faced out-of-shape master of the ponytail waddles into a bar full of legit tough guys, one of them invariably has to blurt out, "Oh man, it's ... he's tough!" while others nod in agreement with zero irony. Jorah gushes about what a good ruler she would be, telling us what an awesome person Dany truly is, without us seeing any of this for ourselves. Every man fawns over her. And all the women look up to her for her wisdom. If this show wasn't based on a book written by a bearded old Jets fan, I'd call her a Mary Sue. For now, she's Female Steven Seagal.

On a positive note, I find it interesting how Tyrion is not superbrain and does lack self-awareness, not realizing for a second that he's the demon monkey of which the city rabble rousers speak. And needing Bronn there to parse things out for him.

Tywin Lannister is a great sht heel villain who makes the good guys beating him better. Robb Stark's continual defeats of such a smart tactical leader elevate Robb Stark. He looks better for being able to repeatedly military defeat a mind such as Tywin.

I said this last week, but it bears repeating, I never thought I'd have sympathy for Theon Greyjoy and his betrayal of Stark's, but given his situation and his family, it almost makes sense.

I don't know if I agree about Theon. I think if last season had established himself as a little more disturbed by his surroundings then you could buy his conversion but with the whole proclaiming Robb his brother scene it just makes him look like a bit of a rat to abandon that for people who treat him like crap.

But that's sort of the problem. If he hadn't been portrayed as being genuinely loyal to the Starks then his betrayal wouldn't be as big a deal but he also wouldn't have been given such an important task.

I don't know, he doesn't seem like a particularly well realized character so far.

Dany can be a great character, but she has been wasted, they don't develop her and her story; so it's hard to root for someone you know nothing about [I haven't read the books]; I loved her on season 1; but now she seens disconected from the rest of what is going on on Westeros.Give her a chance!! (I'm waiting for her to get to get back to Westeros and show how much a treat she can be...well it is whishiful thinking but till i'm prove wrong it can happen.)

@Jane Always got the sense that many and jobs stories are the long game of this series, likely to play out in the final books seasons.Till then I suspect they will be minor characters in the grand scheme of things

Jane, my problem with Dany is that if she's supposed to be very, very important later, then she can very, very important later. Right now, she hogging valuable TV real estate and we can always see her become all these great thing people anticipate of her later, instead of being told how awesome she is now.

I didn't really have an issue with her character before these last two episodes. And you're right, in the first season, she was important and much more importantly sympathetic - little girl thrown into a marriage with a savage rapist (at least initially), because her brother has a Grand Plan, and her world goes upside down. It made her compelling. Here, she is walking around, considering her vengeance by her birth right and planning an invasion and total war, and we're supposed to... sympathize? Empathize? She showed none of the things that everyone on the show around her praises her for.

If you're talking about why characters believe Dany is worthy of being called a woman who would be a caring and worthy queen, isn't it worth it to note how she saved the women is S1 from rape and possible death? How Jorah, who is the one stating this, has seen her struggle between her feelings for her brother as family versus her knowing Viscerys was a bad person? Someone who comforted the woman in her clan two weeks ago whose mate was beheaded, and arranged a funeral rite even? And in this episode chided her mates for contemplating stealing from their benefactors? (off the top of my head)

Dany is so one-notedly, boringly GOOD that it's not even fun to watch her in a world with so many fully-realized, morally complex characters. Maybe she would be a good queen as a goody two-shoes (though Ned Stark's head would beg to differ) but right now? Who cares about her situation? We know she's just going to take the most boring, morally flat option at the end of the day.

Chris, she saved a few from rape, after the men of her husband looted the towns to finance her husband's great idea of conquest of all to have her stand side by side with him on the Iron Throne. When the said speech was given, she looked on in admiration and joy. Her plan is to conquer Westros and rule it. How many lives is she willing to throw away? Oh, but it's all right because they are the lives of those who oppose her and her claim due to her being the child of her father. What is she going to do, hold an election and present a platform of her political goals? She's wants to kill lots and lots of people and wants to use dragons to do it. How does that make her a good person?

Dany is one of the show's most strong characters. I don't get why people don't see her as complex: don't you guys remember the golden crown episode? Look at her reaction when his brother dies. She is not a fairy tale princess.

Everybody assumed last year that Drogo would invade Westeros and destroy everybody and now (why am I not surprised?) they think the same about the dragons.

At the very end the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms needs to be a conqueror but mainly a politician - to quote Tyrion, he/she needs to "understand the way the game is played". Dragons may conquer the throne for her, but being able to keep it, well that's a whole different story.

I think criticizing Dany for being a "goody two-shoes" is forgetting a lot of what she did last season. Remember she had a lady burned alive, didn't flinch when her brother was "crowned" in front of her, etc. And even if she WAS morally better, it might be nice to have someone in the show be a genuinely good person. Let's see where this season goes with regards to her character.

It's very worthy to mention, as Lili did and I neglected to last night, that Jorah is smitten and speaking in superlatives. Her khalasar looks to her as they do because she is the mother of dragons and walked out a bonfire with the little suckers crawling all over her! And in Qarth, where she was almost denied admittance, she is being courted by a man clearly out to use her dragons and claim to the Iron Throne to advance his own lot. So I feel that the attention being given to her is mis-characterized by you Greg.

I don't believe Dany is a goody-good; surely she falls somewhere between Ilyrio's view of her and of your "least likable allegedly likable" character label as is often the case when opinions are so polarized. She's a flawed young woman struggling to balance her compassion and fury as a leader of people.

@ Greg Grant: i see where you're getting with it, is the very same opinion I have on Melisandre, that all told me how great she was (and the looks helps too) but every time she shows up, it bores me to death and I'm still waiting to see that (I mean she gave birth to the shadow thing and has magical powers, she can be discribed as amazing, but i hope you got what i'm trying to say here :) )I hope in the end it pays off and Dany shows that she is everything the other characters believes she is.

Dany's stories this year don't seems so engaging because there isn't as much growth as there was last year. Although, it does mirrors her character. In season 1, all she had to do was to manipulate one man. Now, she has to manage her troops and navigate a city's web of influences and treacheries.

Like someone wrote earlier, it's been shown that being a good warrior alone (Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon) or a good politician alone (Renly) does not make one king. She's learning the politician part now.

I find myself consistently -and pleasantly- surprised at the level of engagement this show brings even in comparatively low-key episodes. Also, is it just me or have been simply masterful at showing you a character's nature economically? Stannis' dictated letter, for example, told us so much about him that has been borne out in subsequent scenes.

And HBO could have went buckwild with boobs if they wanted to in Qarth as traditional Qarthian female fashion described in the books leaves one breast exposed, imagine the outcry about pointless nudity if they stuck to this minor unimportant description from the books...

Here's a suggestion, fellow commentariat, if at any point in your post you have the words "in the books" and it's not immediately preceded by "I don't know what happens..." then it's probably something that you shouldn't post.

Who are you guys complaining about? Are you mad that DARTHZOMBIE mentioned some trivial, non-spoiler detail from the books? Alan has made the rules very clear. Why don't you save your hall monitoring for when someone actually breaks them.

I thought that started last week with the birth of the shadow baby, at least a little bit and the only backlash would be continued off of that being of Renly's untimely demise by smokey like Mr. Eko...

Neither Joffrey nor Cersei have been in every episode. In fact, it was very recently that both didn't appear in an episode. (There's certainly a chance they haven't appeared in more than one each, too.)

Loved this episode. I'm feeling more and more confident that the TV team will be able to adapt the great stuff from the books, and even more, to make great television from some of the even novels that drag a little.

(Not trying to break a rule or discuss the books - just expressing a particular confidence that the producers now have an independent handle on the characters and themes, and could probably take lots of liberties with the plots going forward, if they wanted.)

I want more Stannis and Davos. Their relationship is interesting to me, and Dillane and Cunningham are great.

Also, more Gendry with Arya, Jaqen with Arya, Tywin with Arya...really, just everyone needs more scenes with Arya.

I liked that after Renly's death (which Managed to not be cheesy) we see that Loras is not fool enough ti think it was Brienne and that Margaery is not remotely bothered. Of course she has a pragmatic view of it.

And poor, stupid Theon. He's thrown his lot in with people who don't like or respect him. I'm intrigued by his first mate though.

It's killing me that we're halfway through the season. I could easily have watched every scene in this ep go on for a couple minutes more. I don't think there was a single relationship in this episode that I didn't want to see developed further. Damn good TV!!!

I know there are some serious time constraints in the TV series, but it would be great if they could add some stuff for the DVD release. Not whole new scenes or anything, but there could be some sort of director's cut of the episodes where they just give each character a little more dialogue in these scenes and let them breathe a little bit.

I genuinely want to spend more time with these characters, even if they're just making plot-irrelevant small talk. Which is probably the mark of a good show.

BBQ, well, there is a House of the Undead in Qarth. So perhaps we'll come across Lori being all Lori in there, and Dany will go, "Is this... is this one of my possible futures? Can I truly become that annoying? Do I have to kill it with fire?"

Loved your mention of that stupid NYT article, and how this episode put paid to the author's ridiculous assertion. Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, Gwendoline Christie and Michelle Fairley all killed tonight and kept me rapt throughout (however, I will cheer when (I hope)someone finally chops Cersei's head off - I hate both the character and Lena Headey's performance).

Maybe it ultimately doesn't matter since Renley's army has basically folded into Stannis', but it seems odd that Catelyn Stark would have deicded to flee the scene of Renley's murder with the suspected murderer in tow. Given her position, wouldn't she want to make it clear that she had nothing to do with the attack? Doesn't running away like that convey the exact opposite impression?

Catelyn herself is a suspected murderer. Only she and Brienne were in that tent with Renly. I think she sees that Brienne was willing to die for Renly and she sees a bit of Arya in Brienne, so she wants to protect Brienne. But, yes, it does look suspicious for both suspects to run away.

Catelyn is mother who is desperately missing her daughters and Brienne never had a mother. There is a really interesting symbiosis going on between those two right now where I suspect they're going to each fill a role the other needs right now. I'm curious to see where it goes.

Staying was too risky. There's the whole matter of whether or not Stannis would believe her (we know he would, but he would not acknowledge it), and she has no reason to stay there. She saw that Stannis is not the kind to negociate, and since it was Renly that guaranteed her safety, she better travel back to Robb's camp.

Also, she just saw what was a man made of shadow kill Renly, I wouldn't want to stay around either.

Maisie is killing it this season (pun intended). I'd be shocked if it happened, but I really think she deserves a best supporting actress nod.

All respect to Mad Men, but this is the best ensemble on TV. A few series (Breaking Bad especially) are better at the top, but no series has as deep and excellent a roster as Game of Thrones. Bold statement alert: Game of Thrones has the best ensemble since The Wire.

Not surprised that you didn't include the name of the charming criminal Alan, Jaqen H'ghar is a little harder to spell than Margaery. In any case I love the character already, and the further I get into this season the more I want them to focus on Arya's storyline. More Arya, more Gendry, more Jaqen, more Tywin- that's what I say.

All I'm saying is, this is a world where, in the first episode her own father, one of the most noble men in the kingdom, beheaded a man for running away from somewhere while his son (who is younger than Arya by the way) watched on. Westeros is a brutal place, and it is not particularly surprising how desensitized Arya- a wildchild, who is obsessed with knights and swordplay- is to death already.Also, that was the smallest smile I've ever seen, and I would say it was as much for the fact that she has just gained an ally who might be able to help her out of her increadibly dire circumstances. I certainly wouldn't say she was happy. If I was forced into the service of one of my families greatest enemies who could kill me at any time on a whim, and I met someone who could get away with murder right under their noses and who was on my side, I would probably be somewhat heartened myself.Yes there is much tragedy to her story, and if the mere act of killing brought her happiness then that would also be tragic, but I did not get that at all from this scene.

It's just so sad to remember her outshooting Bran in the first episode and then watch how truly unhappy she's become. And knowing that it's probably not going to stop here. I just feel like more people were going "Woohoo Arya!" while I was shaking my head in dismay.

Mmm, it is depressing that the best thing that's happened to her in a while is that someone killed a torturer for her. Despite what's happened to her I still have hope that she won't totally lose her moral compass though- at least by Westeros standards.

1) Not to be "that guy," but it's Benjen, not Benjin.2) I know Margaery is annoying to spell, but the nickname "Mags" belongs to the Bennett matriarch.3) I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw Rash as Pyat Pree.

This. I was so confused for a second, imagining Margo Martindale offering Littlefinger some "apple pie." I'd rather you just spelled Margaery wrong than make up a nickname that is never used in the show, or the books for that matter.